The was no love lost when the Boston Celtics squared up against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s. The rivalry was pure. It was also heated.
Michael Cooper, a five-time NBA champ with the Lakers and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, knows all too well about that intense rivalry. He still doesn’t like the Celtics. Despite his dislike for the franchise that just won its NBA-best 18th championship in 2024, Cooper showed some love for the Celtics when he picked 12 players to represent his all-time Olympic squad.
Larry Bird Heads List of Cooper’s 3 Celtics Picks
During an episode of his “Showtime With Coop” podcast, Cooper and co-host Nick Gelso talked Olympics basketball. With the 2024 Summer Games getting under way, it was a nice way to sneak in some old-school basketball talk.
Gelso asked the former guard to come up with his own all-time U.S. Olympic team of players from past or present. Cooper quickly went to work.
“OK, my number one player, (Michael) Jordan,” Cooper said. “Number two player, Larry Bird. Number three player is going to be Magic Johnson, and number four is going to LeBron James. At number five, I gotta go with Charles Barkley.
“Number six, I gotta come with Kobe (Bryant). Number seven, I’m gonna come with (Jayson) Tatum. At number eight, I’m gonna come with Bill Russell. Number nine, gotta go with John Stockton. Number 10, I gotta come with Anthony Edwards. At number 11, it’s going to be Karl Malone because Karl scares people, man. My 12th player is going to be Steph Curry.”
With just 12 players to choose from, it was obvious some key players were left out. Gelso was quick to ask Cooper about leaving out his former teammate, center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“Kareem doesn’t go with international basketball,” Cooper said. ‘There’s a lot of people I left off the list. I had a hard time with this because I’m trying to get the best of both worlds. I want to be dominant, but I still want to be up and down.”
Cooper Said He’d Want Mike Krzyzewski as the Team’s Coach
Cooper knew he left players like Shaq and Kevin Durant off the team, but said that the international style of play wasn’t suited for several stars.
“I couldn’t put Wilt (Chamberlain) on the team, either,” Cooper said.
Cooper said he believes anyone would be able to coach this team of stars, but he did say he’d go with former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski as the team’s leader.
“I would go with Coach K and let him coach this team,” Cooper said. “If you look at Olympic basketball, it’s a little bit like college. Coach K would know how to run that system, and he’s familiar with that.
“Pat Riley and Phil Jackson might be a little too hard and staunch. Olympic basketball, you have to make it fun a little bit. Guys got to have a little fun, and I think (Riley and Jackson) would be too serious.”
Cooper said this team would beat the 1992 Dream Team.
“This team’s going to win games by 70. Bill Russell’s going to lock down the middle,” Cooper said. “He’s going to get every rebound, and look at the people you got trying to get out on the wings.”
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Lakers Legend Surprisingly Picks 3 Celtics for His All-Time Olympic Team